Growing up in a family of all girls with a dad who loves football, (our mom is pretty crazy about it too) we all quickly became fans of the sport. I root for Ohio State and the Steelers, yes I know those teams don’t normally go together but I married into the Black and Gold.

Another thing you should know about me is that I deeply love teams. I love team building, team exercises, teammates, pretty much anything that can be done as a team I’m in. So while watching football this past weekend it dawned on me…you get a penalty for excessive celebration. Really? You have got to be kidding me.

When you and your teammates get too happy about giving your blood, sweat and tears to finally make a touchdown and if together you celebrate “to much” that’s when the flag comes out. The NFL official handbook reads, “two-or-more players engage in prolonged, excessive, premeditated, or choreographed celebrations.”

We live in a culture that is often not very supportive of one another, tears people down, is me first, and starving for celebration and belonging. What a missed opportunity for the world to see teammates celebrating with one another. They have worked together, giving it their all and we want it limited to only ONE person celebrating…all by themselves.

I say lets be different. Lets be people of excessive celebration. Celebration in our relationships, our homes, our workplace, and our teams. People who run to each other in those big moments jumping, cheering, yelling and maybe even a choreographed dance every once in a while.